Preserve the original plan and explain the actual staffing and duty changes. New-office L-1A has a one-year support requirement and an initial approval limited to one year.
Build the extension account from operations
Record when workers joined, which tasks they assumed and what the transferee performed before then. Do not backdate a hire to match the forecast. The relevant status and approval dates remain independent of the company’s revised opening timetable.
Filing makes sense once the qualifying year abroad has been earned, the American staffing supports a managerial role, and the corporate relationship is documented; filing before those three are true usually produces a request for evidence rather than an approval. A new office receives only one year initially and, at filing, must show sufficient premises and financial ability to remunerate the beneficiary and commence doing business; evidence at the next stage should show how the operation came to support the position.